Joe Bateman

In my last couple of posts, I spoke about Malcolm, Rick, Sox and myself going to Buffalo for the weekend. The purpose (excuse) was to see the Buffalo Bisons, the Triple A farm team of the New York Mets, in action at their home stadium, CocaCola Field.

The stadium is a beautiful facility to see a game and, if you are ever in the Buffalo area during ball season, check it out. We were only a dozen rows up from the field for only $11.

The first day we were on the elevator heading out for a bite to eat and the elevator stopped at a floor and a tall fellow got on. We all left the hotel together but the four of us stopped to discuss which way we wanted to head. After reaching a consensus, we started out again. After a few blocks, we came upon this same fellow.

Jokingly I told him that we weren't stalking him. He said no problem, he was just taking his time as he was off to work.

"So, where is that?""

"The stadium," he answered.

"What do you do there?"

"I'm a relief pitcher for or the Durham Bulls ."

How about that?!

The Bulls were in town to play the Bisons and he was staying in our hotel.

His name is Joe Bateman. He was an easy guy to talk with and told us about baseball and life in it. Joe told us how he was was cut by Milwaukee Brewers during spring training and picked up by the Mets organization.

He had a great attitude and enjoys the game. "Living the life" was how he described it.

I like that!

The next night we were at the park watching a tight 2-all tie, when Joe was called into the game. He pitched an inning and a third, struck out one and did not give up a run. He has a great side arm delivery and throw 90 to 91 MPH. The best part was that he also got the win, his third of the season.

I wish him well. Joe is a good fellow, with a great attitude.

I took some pictures of him with my new camera but did not put on my glasses when adjusting the settings, which is why the pictures of Joe are not so good.

Sorry Joe, but these shots will never make it on your baseball card.